[Ketfera]

Objective: I am trying to install Vista and XP on my computer with Vista on the first partition and XP on the second.
Situation: I have an Alienware Aurora m9700 laptop with one 160 GB SATA II hard drive. The computer came with Vista Ultimate (and its install disc), and I have an XP install disc I acquired before purchasing the Alienware. The XP install disc doesn't have SP1 or SP2 on it (I have a separate disc for installing SP2 after XP is finished installing).

Series of Events:

1. Using Vista, I partitioned my hard drive into two different partitions: 80 GB on C: (for Vista) and 60 GB on D: (for XP). Then I put the XP install disc into my computer. When the installer asked what partition I wanted to install it on, it couldn't recognize anything on my hard drive. After asking about the problem, I found out I needed to supply SATA drive controllers to the installer, so I bought a USB floppy drive, put the controllers on a floppy, ran the XP installer, and was able to tell the installer to put XP on the second partition.

2. When the installer finished the first phase of the installation and rebooted, the computer said, "Error loading operating system." (I believe the computer could not understand the conflicting boot records, so it displayed the error.)

3. Then I tried a different approach. I formatted both partitions with the Vista installer and installed XP on the second partition. When the installer finished the first phase of the installation and rebooted, the computer did nothing (I suppose the BIOS didn't look for an operating system on the second partition). I left the unfinished XP installation where it was and installed Vista on the first partition. Vista recognized that XP (though incomplete) was on the second partition and created a dual boot startup, allowing me to choose whether to boot using Vista or XP. Because the boot record was prepared to boot either Vista or XP, I reinstalled XP on the second partition (first formatting it with the XP installer). When it finished the first phase of the installation and rebooted, it allowed me to boot from XP, and the XP installation continued. (Hurray!)

4. When the computer rebooted after finishing the second phase of the installation, it displayed the dual boot startup screen, but both options were named "Microsoft XP Professional." After selecting the first option, it started booting XP, but soon after it displayed a blue screen with the error "STOP: 0x0000007B (0xF78AA640, 0xC0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)," which basically means that it couldn't access the device it needed to boot from.

Question: What is going on? If I know what is wrong, then I can find a solution, but until then, I don't know what I should do. Is XP having the same problem that its installer did; does XP need a driver to understand SATA II drives? (Would getting an XP install disc with SP2 already on it solve the problem?) Or is something else going on, and if so, how can I fix it?

Question (rephrased): Why am I getting the "STOP: 0x0000007B" error? Is it because XP was installed on the second partition of a SATA II drive? If so, why is that a problem? And how can I resolve this problem.
Message was edited by: Ketfera

[piyushsingh]

hi Ketfera

First thing , it wont make any difference here whether you have XP or SP1 or SP2 . Xp doesnt come integrated with AHCI/SATA support. Its same for all its service packs. So there are 3 ways to install XP on your sata disk. One was what you did i.e using a floppy drive to install 3rd party drivers. Another is to slipstream those drivers with the XP install disc and burn a new disc that will detect your sata drive in ahci mode. Third and the easiest one is to go to BIOS and use native IDE mode for sata disks. This one is the most popular as it is shortest.

Second thing - vista is the newer OS . Its boot loader recognizes all previous windows OS installed , but XP bootloader wont automatically recognize pre-installed vista. So easiest and shortest way to get the 2 dual booted , is to first install XP and then vista .If XP is installed after vista , the the XP bootloader will get installed on top of vistas and only XP entry will be shown. Then an additional step to restore vista bootloader has to be done.

This clears some of your events .

Now for your 2 XP entries in boot menu - Here you did XP after vista. That should have resulted in only 1 entry in bootmenu that of XP and no vista .But you got 2 XP pro entries , coz there was an unfinished XP installation in that partition left coz of what you were trying before . Result - 2 XP pro entries in XP bootloader with vista entry missing.
I hope this clears all the series of events.

Now for your dual boot. Go the shortest way. First install XP and then vista with the native IDE mode for SATA drives in the BIOS. With XP installion disc delete all previous partitions and reformat only the required XP space with it and install XP. Rest of the space , format with vista disk during vista installation.

[Ketfera]

As far as installing XP, I have already used a floppy drive to supply the controllers. (And unless I missed something, I couldn't find an option in my BIOS that allows me to set it to IDE.) My problem is the blue screen error I am getting. If I can get into XP, I can install a boot loader that will give me access to both Vista and XP, but first I have to get to XP. I think my problem is that I have XP on the second partition, but I don't know why it can't see the second partition. Perhaps I should rephrase my question.

Question (rephrased): Why am I getting the "STOP: 0x0000007B" error? Is it because XP was installed on the second partition of a SATA II drive? If so, why is that a problem? And how can I resolve this problem.

[piyushsingh]

setting the IDE mode also depends on your mobo and bios options, but mostly its there.
As for the blue screen , read this - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324103 . Can either be a boot sector virus due to your floppy drive or some problem with the drivers you supplied additionally.

You say you now have two XP pro entries. You should be able to boot properly with one of those while the other gives blue screen. Try it and post back . Also read my last post once again and you will find out why you ended up with 2 XP pro entries.

[Ketfera]

I am not concerned about seeing two XP boot options when my computer starts up. The first one (which I figure to be the true XP) allows me to start loading the OS, but comes up with that blue screen shortly after it starts loading. The second one (which I figure to be Vista and the XP boot loader can't understand that) just comes up with an error saying that it is missing a file "hal.dll" which I need to replace. I need to know why XP (the OS itself, not the installer) won't load, why it comes up with that blue screen, and how I can fix it. The reason I posted this question on the PC World forums is because this is a problem that I won't find the answer to likely anywhere else.

[piyushsingh]

This cant be true. The second XP entry is in no way vista. The fact that you ran xp install after vista also is sufficient enough to arrive at the conclusion that vista bootloader is overwritten at the moment. What you see is XP boot loader with two XP installs (one is partial), Unless you have manually edited the boot configuration file (which you havent done). btw - there was a link related to the blue screen also.

If you arent satisifed , wait for some time , some other member will surely join in to help you .

[Ketfera]

I may be wrong about the second XP entry actually being Vista, but let me explain why I think it is so.
First, I put XP on, but it didn't let me continue after the first reboot. Then I put Vista on, which recognized that the partial XP was on the other partition, so the boot loader displayed the following options.

1. Ealier version of Windows
2. Windows Vista

Then, when I installed XP again (formatting the drive before hand, so that the partial XP was no more) and finished the second phase of the installation, the boot loader showed this.

1. Windows XP Professional
2. Windows XP Professional

The first one allowed me to boot XP (even though it produced the STOP error soon after), while the second one was "broken" (it required the hal.dll).

I assumed that Vista had set up the dual boot loader and when XP was installed, it overwrote the dual boot loader but left it as a dual boot. Because the XP boot loader can't recognize Vista, it called it XP Professional. Again, I may be wrong.

However, this is all unimportant, because I tried to install XP again on C:, and it still came up with the same STOP error. I am beginning to wonder if my XP install disc is damaged.

[piyushsingh]

So now your only problem is with getting just XP to work fine. Right.
This happens when too many questions are mixed up in one thread , thats why it is always better to limit no.of questions in a particular thread. Anyway the problems were related to each other.

So, now the STOP: 0x0000007B error . Did you check the link I posted in one of my previous posts. I think the third party drivers are giving the problem.

[rtfire1]

o I have been where you are.



Long store and a month a playing with settings. vista has a great built in boot loader and when i let it fix it self I found out I do not need a boat loader. here is what i did.



make back up copy of vista boot drive some one told me to do it incase I [f@#$%ed] up. installed vista on c: the xp on d it was kinda a pain then booted with vista cd/dvd and vista has an option to fix how it boots it fixed xp and vista total time trying to do this one month once i found out this was the way to go about 5 hours with updates for both boots

[Ketfera]

I decided to get straight to my problem, so today I deleted all partitions on my hard drive and tried to install XP. The first phase of the installation went without a hitch; the second phase of the installation also went perfectly, but when it rebooted after the second phase of installation, it came up with a blue screen just as it did before, except that it displayed a different error: "STOP: 0x000000ED UNMOUNTABLEBOOTVOLUME." I have done all the research I could on this error and have found nothing. I think this error and the 0x0000007B error are related. I may be wrong, but I think they are being caused by the same thing, just in different ways depending on the situation. Is there anyone who can provide a little light on the problem?

Also, I don't have that repair option with my Vista install disc. I don't know why, but it will only allow me to install Vista, so that is what I have done.

[smax013]

Ketfera said:

I decided to get straight to my problem, so today I deleted all partitions on my hard drive and tried to install XP. The first phase of the installation went without a hitch; the second phase of the installation also went perfectly, but when it rebooted after the second phase of installation, it came up with a blue screen just as it did before, except that it displayed a different error: "STOP: 0x000000ED UNMOUNTABLEBOOTVOLUME." I have done all the research I could on this error and have found nothing. I think this error and the 0x0000007B error are related. I may be wrong, but I think they are being caused by the same thing, just in different ways depending on the situation. Is there anyone who can provide a little light on the problem?

Also, I don't have that repair option with my Vista install disc. I don't know why, but it will only allow me to install Vista, so that is what I have done.

My best guess is that it is our friend the ACHI controller and Windows XP. As noted early in the thread, Vista has direct support built in for the ACHI controller...Windows XP does not. As a result, IF you want to run your computer with the ACHI controller enabled and use Windows XP, you will need a driver for it and will need to install that driver with XP when you install XP. This can either be done by using a floppy disk and pressing F6 at the beginning of the install process to install the driver or by trying to slipstream the driver onto the Windows XP install disk. The other option is to put the ACHI controller into "IDE emulation" mode, but this may not be an option in the BIOS of all manufacturered computers AND it will generally require you to re-install Vista, which could be a problem IF your computer manufacturer did not give you an actual Windows Vista install disk and only supplied restore disks/partitions.



Now, you mentioned you tried installing a driver with the installation of Windows XP. Was this the ACHI driver for your system? If so, where did you get the driver? Are you sure it is the proper driver? How did you specifically go about installing it?

[smax013]

If it helps, from the ACHI entry on Wikipedia:



"Enabling AHCI in a system BIOS will cause a 0x7B Blue Screen of Death STOP error (INACCESSIBLEBOOTDEVICE) on installations of Windows XP where AHCI/RAID drivers for that system's chipset are not installed. Switching to AHCI mode requires installing new drivers before changing the BIOS settings. "



en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced[uHost[/u]Controller_Interface]



There is your 0x7B error.

[rtfire1]

after doing some reading when you go in to your bios what are your modes for the hd controller. from what I have read about the boards they put in to the laptops for them super gaming laptops you should just need to change the driving setting in the bios.

[Ketfera]

The drivers I supply to the XP installer by pressing F6 are SATA drive controllers provided by Alienware itself for my peticular computer model, so it all should work without a problem. As for disabling AHCI on my computer, I would rather not, since I will loose some data transfer speed, which will make my computer run slower. Anyway, here are the available options in my BIOS for the hard drive.
LBA/Large Mode Options: Disabled or Auto
Block (Multi-Sector Transfer) Options: Disabled or Auto
PIO Mode Options: Auto or 0-4
DMA Mode Options: Auto, SingleWordDMAn (n = 0-2), MultipleWordDMAn (n = 0-2), or UltraDMAn (n = 0-6)
S.M.A.R.T. Options: Auto, Disabled, or Enabled
32Bit Data Transfer Options: Enabled or Disabled
I have already searched for the meanings of these terms and how the might help me, but didn't find anything, really. I hope you will be able to find something helpful.

[smax013]

Ketfera said:

The drivers I supply to the XP installer by pressing F6 are SATA drive controllers provided by Alienware itself for my peticular computer model, so it all should work without a problem. As for disabling AHCI on my computer, I would rather not, since I will loose some data transfer speed, which will make my computer run slower. Anyway, here are the available options in my BIOS for the hard drive.

LBA/Large Mode Options: Disabled or Auto
Block (Multi-Sector Transfer) Options: Disabled or Auto
PIO Mode Options: Auto or 0-4
DMA Mode Options: Auto, SingleWordDMAn (n = 0-2), MultipleWordDMAn (n = 0-2), or UltraDMAn (n = 0-6)
S.M.A.R.T. Options: Auto, Disabled, or Enabled
32Bit Data Transfer Options: Enabled or Disabled

I have already searched for the meanings of these terms and how the might help me, but didn't find anything, really. I hope you will be able to find something helpful.Don't know if this will help or not as all BIOS screens tend to be different, but here is a picture of my BIOS:

This screen is the "Integrated Peripherals" option of my BIOS (this is NOT the main BIOS screen). The option to enable the ACHI on my BIOS is the one highlighted in red. Maybe it will help you locate the similar option on yours...if it exists...I will note again that some manufacturered computers have had their BIOS options limited by the manufacturer to "ease" support issues. Thus, this might be a function that has been removed from BIOS on your computer. If so, then your only option would be to get the proper driver or just not use XP.



Edit: Oppsie. Sorry. Minor brain cramp...the option to switch the mode is the FIRST one listed ("SATA RAID/ACHI Mode")...NOT the one in red.

[Ketfera]

Unfortunately, I do not have such an option anywhere in my BIOS.

[smax013]

Ketfera said:

Unfortunately, I do not have such an option anywhere in my BIOS.

Thought that might be the case.



It would appear that you are either stuck NOT "dual booting" XP unless you either a) get the proper drivers for the ACHI controller and can install them (this assumes that you DO NOT have the proper drivers already) or b) run XP in a virtual machine such as VMWare or Parallels, etc.

[rgreen4]

As Smax has pointed out many manufactured machines, especially laptops have BIOS's with limited options, I call them "crippled" BIOS's.

Here is a [document|d-1670] on the problems you are encountering and some workarounds put forth on HP machines. Now you said you have the Alienware drivers so you are ahead of the game, but reading through all the documents and references indicate that is will not be an easy process. As many experiments as I have tried, this is not one I will try. I do have a dual boot desktop, with Vista and XP (for experimenting as Vista is now my preferred OS) installed independently so as to avoid corrupting the boot records.

[rtfire1]

I here linux is a nice option when windows xp will not work with your newer pc/laptop.



It sounds like your laptop like mine was not pland to run windows xp due to its not having driver suport. I am able to run it but I have no sounds and other issues where my laptop was made to run vista and beyond

[rgreen4]

If you can find the specifics of your sound chip, you should be able to find a driver, unless it's real new.